"Steel thy obdurate heart against the sense / Of obligation infinite, and know, / Britain, like Heaven, protects a thankless world / For her own glory, nor expects reward."
— Lyttelton, George, first Baron Lyttelton (1709-1773)
Work Title
Date
1728, 1777
Metaphor
"Steel thy obdurate heart against the sense / Of obligation infinite, and know, / Britain, like Heaven, protects a thankless world / For her own glory, nor expects reward."
Metaphor in Context
Hail happy chief, whose valour could deserve
Reward so glorious! grateful nation, hail,
Who paidst his service with so rich a meed!
Which most shall I admire, which worthiest praise,
The hero or the people? Honour doubts,
And weighs their virtues in an equal scale.
Not thus Germania pays the uncancell'd debt
Of gratitude to us.--Blush, Caesar, blush,
When thou behold'st these towers, ingrate, to thee
A monument of shame. Canst thou forget
Whence they are nam'd, and what an English arm
Did for thy throne that day? But we disdain
Or to upbraid or imitate thy guilt.
Steel thy obdurate heart against the sense
Of obligation infinite, and know,
Britain, like Heaven, protects a thankless world
For her own glory, nor expects reward.
(cf. p. 2 in 1728 edition; and cf. II, p. 20 in Dodsley)
Reward so glorious! grateful nation, hail,
Who paidst his service with so rich a meed!
Which most shall I admire, which worthiest praise,
The hero or the people? Honour doubts,
And weighs their virtues in an equal scale.
Not thus Germania pays the uncancell'd debt
Of gratitude to us.--Blush, Caesar, blush,
When thou behold'st these towers, ingrate, to thee
A monument of shame. Canst thou forget
Whence they are nam'd, and what an English arm
Did for thy throne that day? But we disdain
Or to upbraid or imitate thy guilt.
Steel thy obdurate heart against the sense
Of obligation infinite, and know,
Britain, like Heaven, protects a thankless world
For her own glory, nor expects reward.
(cf. p. 2 in 1728 edition; and cf. II, p. 20 in Dodsley)
Categories
Provenance
Searching "heart" and "steel" in HDIS (Poetry); found again in ECCO-TCP. Confirmed in ECCO.
Citation
At least 15 entries in ECCO and ESTC (1728, 1748, 1751, 1755, 1758, 1763, 1765, 1773, 1775, 1776, 1777, 1782).
Bleinheim. (London: Printed for J. Roberts, near the Oxford-Arms in Warwick-Lane, 1728). <Link to ESTC>
See also Dodsley's A Collection of Poems in Six Volumes. By Several Hands (London: Printed by J. Hughs, for R. and J. Dodsley, 1763), II, p. 20. [There titled: "Blenheim. Written at the University of Oxford in the Year 1727"] <Link to ECCO-TCP>
Text from Poems by the Right Honourable the late Lord Lyttleton (Glasgow: Printed by Andrew Foulis, 1777). [Titled "Blenheim"]
Bleinheim. (London: Printed for J. Roberts, near the Oxford-Arms in Warwick-Lane, 1728). <Link to ESTC>
See also Dodsley's A Collection of Poems in Six Volumes. By Several Hands (London: Printed by J. Hughs, for R. and J. Dodsley, 1763), II, p. 20. [There titled: "Blenheim. Written at the University of Oxford in the Year 1727"] <Link to ECCO-TCP>
Text from Poems by the Right Honourable the late Lord Lyttleton (Glasgow: Printed by Andrew Foulis, 1777). [Titled "Blenheim"]
Date of Entry
06/10/2005
